The delegation explored the effects of militarization on Israeli and Palestinian communities and shed light on alternative paths to justice - both those imagined and practiced - charted by Palestinians and Israelis on the ground.

Participants had the unique opportunity to hear directly from Palestinians and Israelis regarding their hopes for peace and the role of the United States, the US government, and other international actors, in promoting a resolution to the conflict.

This delegation was Eyewitness Palestine's 58th, successfully exposing more than 1,100 people to the daily realities facing Palestinians in their quest for justice.

We believe in the power of eye-witness experience and transformation. Given the opportunity to speak directly with Palestinians and Israelis, delegates return to the United States better informed, more energized, and with a deeper understanding of the possibilities for true justice in the Middle East.

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Eyewitness Accounts from the Delegation

Laurie and I are staying 10 days after the delegation. Some mysterious force canceled the reservation we previously booked and put us in a great hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, next to the Tower of David Museum.

Arriving in Jerusalem, took me back to the origins of a people of three faiths; Christianity, Judaism and Islam. To see and experience the livening presence of the three faiths and how they are interconnected through this historical, middle- eastern Arab town named Jerusalem to the faith of three historic peoples opens my mind and heart to listen and hear fully.

In order to drive a vehicle, one must have a license. In the case of Israel and the West Bank the plates are either yellow (Israeli) or green and white (Palestinian). We had a yellow license plate that enabled us to use the super highways built for the Israeli settlers. Our travel would have been severely curtailed if we had had to go through the numerous checkpoints.

Having spent the last ten days in Palestine and Israel, where we met with the most compelling Palestinian and Israeli speakers, I was blown away by the diverse perspectives and their articulated hope for a just and peaceful resolution.

Our eyes saw the checkpoint for people crossing from Gaza to Israel. Of course, it is more than a simple checkpoint (can such a thing be simple?), it is a massive stretch of buildings containing Israeli intelligence offices, interrogation rooms, detention cells, and who knows what else.

While the other delegates were watching the IDF teenagers with automatic weapons, I was enchanted by the children. I was at the back of the group and was watching them when they saw Issa Amro. As soon as they spotted him they began to chant in unison, “Issa Amro! Issa Amro! Issa Amro!” As they neared us shyness overcame them and they merely grinned ear to ear.

Imagine this scenario in the USA.The camp is for Palestinians whose homes were razed by Israel. The focus is on educational workshops and they recently staged an exhibit of paintings called In Between, that describes the angst of young people living with daily trauma.

Although there is a concerted effort to erase the existence of Palestinians since the time of the Nakba, archaeologists were able to save the remains of the community of Lifta, a wealthy and intellectual hub, near Jerusalem. We hiked down to the main gathering place of Lifta where there is a beautiful spring surrounded by trees.

Any Jewish person has the right of return, return to a place she or her family has never been. No Palestinian person has the right to return to the place of her birth or her family home. Opposing the expansion of Zionism is not anti-Semitic.

I saw Palestine today. Endless foothills without many signs of life. I can tell that someone lives there because the hills have been sculpted like steps leading to somewhere. It looks like a massive undertaking, carving steps from bottom to top, the full circumference of the foothill of a mountain.

Last week we visited the Tent of Nations south of Bethlehem. Daher Nassar greeted us so warmly with the biggest, most genuinely joyful smile, and showed us his family’s farm. Though almost completely surrounded by large, growing settlements, his family has legal papers documenting their title to the 100-acre hillside farm dating back to the Ottoman Empire.

My ancestors spoke to me. No, they yelled at me, pulled and pushed me, argued and turned their backs on each other in my tense body. Our Olive Harvest Delegation visited the Palestinian hillside village of Lifta. Just outside Jerusalem, Lifta was attacked by the Haganah Zionist militia in December 1947.

We witnessed the village of Lifta today - a village attacked by Zionist militias in 1947 and soon abandoned by its people as not to experience the reality of neighboring villages like Deir Yasin whose people were massacred. This story is similar to the story of over 500 Palestinian villages.

This place, atop a roof surrounded by partial walls and ceiling of cinder blocks, tin, burlap and tarps, has a feeling like home. It's not the physical surroundings that feel familiar, but the strong sense of community that clearly lives here.

At the end of the first day, I haven’t looked into the part of my brain that tells me how I feel about today’s trip. My main focus today was to shut up the part of my mind that judges and evaluates and let my inner most self soak in the surroundings, the people and their lives, the words of the speakers and the emotion in the spaces.

I’m not sure what day it is but my husband and I left Cleveland, Ohio Thursday evening. We arrived after a 10 hour bus ride to Washington DC for orientation. I was eager to meet everyone embarking on this journey and to discover why they chose to travel to Palestine/Israel.

We have been hearing a lot about what is called 'fake news'. We have indeed been getting filtered and biased news for decades. But unfiltered news can be learned by eyewitness accounts today through the miracle of direct digital communication. The following is what our delegation witnessed today.

Over the mountains, over the sea and through Israeli security... "Are you with this group? Please go to the waiting area miss, we need to do another check on your passport. . . Why are you here? You've been here before? Then why did you come back?"

The delegation is on the ground in Palestine this week during a unique historic moment — the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration and the reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas political parties.

We invite delegation participants to comment on and react to the experiences they have during our Israel/Palestine delegations in written Trip Reflections.

Individual delegates contribute pieces to these reflections. As such, reflections are not comprehensive accounts of every meeting or experience, but impressions of those things that most impact individuals. Submitted reflections may be edited for clarity or brevity. Trip reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Eyewitness Palestine or delegation partner organizations. We hope you enjoy reading and we encourage you toshare these reflections with others.

Are you ready for your journey for justice?

Founded in 2001, Eyewitness Palestine works to build movements of solidarity with grassroots struggles for justice in Palestine/Israel. Your journey for justice with Palestinian and Israeli peace-builders starts here!